BlueYoshi

[color=darkred]Surely you all must know about this, but just in case you don't, Metroid Dread is Nintendo's answer to a 2D Metroid game for the DS (well, it's rumoured to be), meaning Hunters isn't all that's on offer. My main reason for making this thread though is pretty much just to hear everyone's theories on how the DS will implement certain aspects into the game. Sure, the bulk of it will most likely be the 2D side-scrolling, back-tracking Metroid we all know and love, but considering the DS' capabilities, there are bound to be many other aspects involved. For one, I think the Morph Ball will take advantage of the DS in some way or another, whether it be using the stylus to roll around for more precise mobility, or if there will be 3D third-person puzzles reminiscent to those in Metroid Prime. There are many possibilities, such as how Nintendo will go about bosses and certain enemies, and there's always the question of the DS' second screen, which is most obviously assumed to display the map features -- I imagine one which resembles that of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, though there could be more to it. So, people, any other thoughts as to how the DS will go about this?[/color]

[color=darkred]I haven't got access to that video, so I don't know what is or what isn't in it, but from looking at the pics it looks very likely that CQC will be in the game. If not, then maybe it will undertake some other form, but nonetheless something along the lines will appear. I thought that CQC was very fitting for MGS3 in many ways, as it allowed for a much higher level of interaction when using Snake. Being able to hide yourself and sneak past enemies with various camouflages in different environments is one thing, but to use the camouflage options to actually attack the enemies is another, which is a great edge, I think. So maybe something of the liking will be incorporated into MGS4, which is why I'm so excited about the "no where to hide" theme. Hmmm, also, I just noticed that Snake was holding both an AK and a knife in that pic. Last I checked in MGS3, both of those weapons weren't compatible together with CQC.[/color]

[color=darkred]You know, in MGS2, just before Snake gives the HF Blade to Raiden, Snake mentions that he's not a big fan of blades, yet he sports a knife in the pic below. I'm not so sad that I remember the dialogue of a game that was released a few years ago, since I played MGS2 fairly recently, but I am bored enough to post about it.[/color] :D [img]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2005/257/reviews/926596_20050916_screen005.jpg[/img] [color=darkred]Another thing, doesn't the black skin-tight suit that Snake is wearing in the pic look incredibly similar to the one that Big Boss wore underneath his camouflage in MGS3, except that Snake's isn't fingerless? Either technology has stayed the same for some half a century, or it was incredibly advanced back in the good old days.[/color]

[color=darkred]Good job that you had such a great time, but dude, what's with getting bored at the museum in Ueno Park?! If it were me, I'd bend over backwards just to see every tid-bit of historical monuments there lol. But seriously, from this end it sounds like a trip well worth it, which is cool. Maybe some day I'll visit Tokyo in all its glory, heh. By the way, that Shinto Shrine looks simply amazing.[/color]

[color=darkred]Sounds interesting, though I imagine I'd have to actually see the footage to be wowed by the graphics, but I digress, as I do have faith in the PS3's capabilities. :cool: More than anything, I'm most keen in finding out what's going to make the game stick out more than the others in the series. DMC3 had its job system, so considering what the PS3 is capable of, this could be one to look out for, I think.[/color]

[color=darkred]Naturally, my reaction when I first saw it: "WTF?!!!!111" Seriously though, it looks real nice... I mean [i]real[/i] nice, and I'm glad that it has received so much positive feedback, from both third parties and general gamers. Obviously, actually playing with it and feeling the experience would provide the best judgement for it, but from what I'm hearing I think I won't be disappointed, fingers crossed. I agree with James' reference to the N64 pad, although it seems to be the opposite in this case -- everybody loves it lol. Nintendo claimed that they wanted to make the pad for the Revolution exceptional, or as they put it, "to make people feel as if they want to pick it up and just play with it". As far as that statement goes, that's the general feel I have for it. I'm eager to see just how comfortable it is when supporting both retro and Revolution games, especially certain FPSs due to come out for the Revolution. Undoubtedly, this will change the experience for many games, most notably Metroid Prime, seeing as it was always different as an FPS, because it was always kind of in the grey-area for me. So maybe Prime 3 will be taken to the next step with the help of the new controller. Anyway, I like it, and I think it will be a big attraction if anything. If you think otherwise, then rack off. Oh, and as for the cost of it, I think there won't be much to worry about. keeeen has a point; I doubt Nintendo would try to pull such a stunt, especially not at this stage, seeing as they were kind enough to include the GBA/GC Link Cable with both FF:CC and LoZ: FSA so as the main attractions of both games wouldn't go unnoticed. So yeah, no worries.[/color]

[color=darkred]If there was online play for FF:CC DS, then that'd be awesome, but it would really just boil down to Square's approach on the matter. I'd say that getting rid of the Chalice, or at least interpreting it in a way that it's not such a nuisance would be a step forward. If it does stay, and it confines you within a limited space in which you can play in, then that'd be no good, especially during multiplayer where there's the possibility of playing with up to eight players all at once on the same screen, because issues such as over-crowded screens and such will start to arise. I think the DS' second screen would come in handy for the in-game dungeons, seeing as you needed to hook a GBA up with the GameCube in order to view the map, so having it on a plate ready for you would certainly be a good thing. Perhaps other features could be implemented into it too, like the kind of detail that's present in the course maps for Mario Kart DS. I can see how that'd be a great help in a game of FF:CC's style.[/color]

[color=darkred]I just want your fruit in my town so I can cha-ching.[/color]

[quote name='ThoraxtheImpaler']Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: While I think its a great game, its just not my style. It gets to boring to quick. I HATE multiplayer oon this.[/quote] [color=darkred]Yeah, it is a great game in itself, but I can still think of a few others that match its style (like Phantasy Star Online: Episode I & II and Tales of Symphonia) that I'd much rather play instead. But I definitely agree with you on your opinion about the multiplayer mode. It SUCKED, mainly because of the Chalice. There are only two people I know who play video games on the same kind of level that I do, and played FF:CC with me when the game came out -- one's a stingy bastard who would try to stall me into holding the Chalice for as long as possible, and the other would refuse to carry it at all, ultimately meaning us making no progress whatsoever. This really should have been thought out some more by the developers in the interest of fair play. After all, the Chalice is merely a gimmick (a bad one at that), and doesn't have to be there, so why bother. Perhaps FF:CC DS will give the name justice though.[/color]

[color=darkred]I found a picture of what the box art for AC: WW will look like. It's kind of small, but you can still make it out if you look hard enough. I love it though, it looks way awesome.[/color] [url]http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b8/peekomaster/6916849.jpg[/url] [color=darkred]On a different note, I really hate the fact that the US will get this game before Europe. I'm hoping that the gap between the two release dates isn't that big, but either way I can guarantee that a lot of obsessive Americans will be sailing way ahead of me in terms of progress in their towns even before I play the game. That sucks for when online play comes around.[/color]

[quote name='ThoraxtheImpaler']Not to sound like another FF fanatic, but I think 12 looks great. I'm loving the battle system idea so far. Not to mention the graphics are insane.[/quote] [color=darkred]Same here. I'd also like to know how the whole system of getting random monsters on the overworld to help you by taking out other monsters works out.[/color]

[color=darkred]Nintendo gave the game an official name yesterday, AC: Wild World. It's okay I suppose, it has a ring to it, but I would've just settled for ACDS. It sounds like some sort of expansion pack to me. Also, is anyone else here sceptical about the spherical effect that has been implemented into AC:WW overworld? Because from screenshots, there's just something about it to me that tells me I won't like it. It looks pretty cool, and is a nice touch to make the game glow a little more, but I feel that I might find it irritating in a way that it'll hinder the gameplay for me when I'm walking about in it and trying to do stuff -- that it'll just generally get in my way, if you know what I mean. I dunno though, I might be just paranoid lol.[/color]

[color=darkred]I went down the road of wanting to be a computer animator when I was about your age, but I soon realised that it just wasn't practical enough for me for a number of reasons. I think young blood could be helpful to the industry, especially if you're already a gamer yourself, because then you could point out what needs doing, as opposed to someone who just happens to be good at the job overall.[/color]

[color=darkred]I bought one of these a few months ago, as my black PS2 was starting to croak. This is my fifth PS2 now lol, and my third PAL compatible one (the other two were American and Japanese ones). I like the slim PS2 a lot, mainly because it lets my games, especially the older ones, load much faster without any faults, freezes, and crashes. It's a shame that the old PS2 multi-tap doesn't work with it, though. I ended up selling my one the day that I bought my slim PS2. I guess the fact that the slim PS2 has built in IR sensors makes up for that, because I'm one of the few crazy people who actually bought a PS2 DVD remote, and not having to worry about scratching my detachable IR unit when using it is a load of my mind. Come to think of it I don't actually have any use for it anymore...[/color]

[color=darkred]Yeah, I'd agree with the typical Mario and Zelda, so I'll just mention one of my other favourite NES games which kept me busy for some time, which is Battletoads. I enjoyed a bunch of other games, all of which have been mentioned here already, but as a beat 'em up, Battletoads was gold. The funky animations when your character kicked and punched away at enemies was hilarious, even if it wasn't intentional. What draws me towards it, though, is the sheer simplicity it holds as a beat 'em up, because there were only so many things you could do with a NES pad, and the developers over-saw that fact. As for the worst NES game, I'd have to say Metal Gear. I enjoyed playing parts of it, but the game got so annoyingly boring with the repeated backgrounds, and entering the Radio was a bother, too, because of the fact that you'd have to enter the start menu each time you wanted to use it. Also, I couldn't stand the horrible English translations, even though this is sometimes thought to be funny by some people. If any game should be for the NES, it should be a simple one, and not one which possesses a storyline to complicate things and aims to wow you with it. My favourite SNES game is Super Metroid for two reasons. One, I love the exploration aspects involved within the game. Backtracking can be a bother in some games, but I never got that negative vibe with Super Metroid. The second reason is how I love the way you grow stronger as the game progresses, which is one of the results of the excessive amounts of exploring. You start weak, and then you power-up by getting the ability to run very fast, or jump really high. It's a game I enjoy even today, and it's one of the first games that I'm going to download when the Revolution swings by. Least favourite SNES game would be Super Wrestlemania, for obvious reasons. It's possibly the only crappy game I remember playing, because I owned it, but there's not much you can do with a 2D wrestling game, so in result it was lacking a lot of things. Even still, it was way better than the crummy Mega Drive Wrestlemania game, even though that version had the Ultimate Warrior in it.[/color]

[color=darkred]I've never a played a Lunar game but I've heard all about them. The Dual Screen in Dragon Song seems to have been implemented in a rather unique way, which sounds interesting, but at this point of the DS's life-cycle I think people would much rather just pick up a simple paced RPG that uses the second screen but in a more mild manner and start hacking away at that, apart from the long time fans that is. I might get this game when it's released, though, seeing as my income issues are starting to pick up.[/color]

[color=darkred]I've played almost all of the Final Fantasy games, and own half of them, but there are those amongst my collection that I still haven't beat, like FFIX. I wasn't too fond of FFIX for many reasons, mainly because it didn't seem as attractive to me as the others I had played at the time did. For me, it's just a simple matter of preferences, and I wouldn't play a Final Fantasy game, or any other, if I didn't like it, unlike some people I know who'd play it solely for the fact that it's a Square title. I guess if it wasn't for various revamps and ports such as FF: Dawn of Souls for the GBA and FF: Anthology for the PlayStation, then I wouldn't have played as many FF games as I have. Amongst the older FF games, I'd say that FFVI was my favourite, putting aside technical stuff that just couldn't be helped at the time, like how slow it plays in comparison to the games of today. I like the characters, the simple-minded humour, the battle system, and believe it or not, the story, though the dialogue leaves much to be desired lol, but eh. I think I'll get FFIII for the DS when it's released, because I still haven't completed FFVI due to the fact that I can't hack how slow it is, and if it'll turn out in any way how FF: Dawn of Souls did, then I'll be super chuffed. As for the more modern games, it's a tie-in between FFVII and FFX. FFX was a breath of fresh air to me; the battles and the sphere grid particularly, though I can't say the same for the characters seeing as by the time the game was released I had seen pretty much every possible type of character that could've been thrown into an RPG. I enjoyed FFVII because you were forced to be independent, where you had decide for yourself what magic and Materia to equip for each character, unlike FFX for example, were you'd automatically know that Yuna was a Summoner, and Auron excelled in offensive magic and Strength. This whole idea gave the battles an extra edge because you'd have to experiment in order to find the right party members for you. FF Tactics is my all time favourite, however, mainly because of the customisation aspect involved, along with the need to experiment with certain characters and job classes to reach the party's optimum level. Really, the possibilities are endless with this game. You could decide to have a clan full of Ninjas, or spread it out between offence and defence. Either way, the game steers away from the typical command list that is popular in many RPGs, because you're refrained from simply holding down the action button to constantly select the Attack option. Hehe, I hate that.[/color]

[color=darkred]I've been into games and consoles since I was five years old, which pretty much means I've kept the habit going my whole life, and yes, there was a time when I'd get super excited about buying a game without worrying about certain opportunity costs, due to the fact that my parents use to pay for everything, heh. Nowadays, I think it's just a case of maturing that I don't get the same feelings anymore. I remember in the past when I'd be asked what games I had, and I'd be able to fluently mention every single one in the order I bought them, demo discs included. These days, replay value has most certainly deteriorated, and thus I'm not particularly bothered about trading-in my games for others, or if I was to buy a second hand game so to speak. There are only certain games that I've bought recently that have got me chonged upon release, such as Metroid prime 2: Echoes, and Metal Gear Solid 3. Honestly, as long as I buy the initial console brand new, then I'd be happy about acquiring the games I want in any way, just as long as it's reasonable and coherent.[/color]

[color=darkred]We've had a variety of pets come and go through our household, and I've hated every single one of them, except for this one white budgie that my friend gave away to me, which is the only pet I've ever had to my name. I swear, that budgie was so cool; it would sit on my shoulder so trustingly, it would always come back to me on my command after flying away, I mean, the damn bird was so disciplined we didn't even keep it in a cage. It's good to have a pet that you feel you have a connection with rather than just having one for show, because there really is no point otherwise, which is why I reckon most people are fond of dogs, seeing as they're affectionate beings and all. About the other pets. We've had thee finches, god knows how many fish, six budgies, three rabbits, two guinea pigs, three hamsters (one of which gave birth to nine more), and most recently, two chickens, of which one has survived to this day. All of them have met an untimely death -- most notably the hamsters; they resorted to cannibalism because they hadn't been fed for over a week. I hate/ed them all. They stank, and they had to be cleaned every so often that it becomes a daily ritual. Seriously, I can understand why people would get cats and dogs, but when it comes to animals that you'd keep in a cage all day, I really don't see the point.[/color]

[quote name='ThoraxtheImpaler']Yeah, it seems cliche at first, but around 15 hours into it there will be a major plot twist that wil uncliche-ify it. Just so you know, its at least 45 hours long.[/quote] [color=darkred]Yeah, true, it totally caught me by surprise. I'd say that that twist was a turn for the better, because the plot that you start off with is sort of plain and dry. Anyway, after a whole week of chronic playing, I finally beat the game last night at around 40 hours. My guys were Level 70-ish, so the last few bosses of the game were a real walk-over. I think the fact that you're able to level-up so easily and so soon doesn't really contribute to the difficulty factor, but then again beating the game allowed me to unlock the Mania mode, which I'm keen on trying out. One thing I'm really peeved about, though, is how I [spoiler]saved my file right into the core of Derris-Kharlan at the end of the game[/spoiler], and then overwrote my file with the completed data after beating the game. Man, because of that, I can't go back and do any of the additional extras that the game has to offer, or namely so, I never got to battle Abyssion despite having collected all of the Devil's Arms, not that it was a hard task -- especially if you're as observant as I am, since I check every room in every house in every town, heh. I started a new file last night, anyway, taking advantage of the Grade shop. From the top of my head, I think I spent 1500 Grade points on inheriting 2xEXP, MaxHP, Battle data, World Map data, and a few others in my next file. I also wanted to inherit my Gald, all 400,000 of it, but lack of Grade funds denied me doing so. Bah, no real loss, though; I can get it back just as easily as I lost it. Before reaching Tethe'alla, the characters seemed really cliched and somewhat abrupt, Kratos in particular because he matches that "mysterious" criteria, but seriously, the characters met later on in the game have some pretty catchy personalities, and contribute a great deal to your party. I think my favourite character would have to be Zelos (Regal at a close second), though, for a variety of reasons. His assigned voice-acting doesn't let his personality down, he's always bubbly and adding life to those dull moments, and he's got the most random dialogue in the game, which is sometimes actually quite funny. But, honestly, that doesn't change the fact that I thought he was a female when I saw him in the intro. :animeblus With my second file, I'm really going to change things around to make it different. I breezed through my first game using Lloyd, Genis, Raine, and Regal, which is no doubt an effective team, but considering that the former three characters are with you from the very beginning, it kind of grows on you, so I'm thinking of switching Genis and Regal for Presea and Zelos. Raine is a must have, so I guess she'll stay, and I might also keep Lloyd, too, except I'll set him to Auto and take control of Presea instead. Oh, and as for [spoiler]what Lloyd might have named the tree at the end, I really think he named it after Kratos. After all, Kratos is Lloyd's father, even if he only knew him as his father for a short while, so a tribute to him would make sense.[/spoiler][/color]

[color=darkred]I don't find RPG cliches to be much of a problem, because there are many other things that can go wrong in an RPG that would repel the player's interest in it, such as buggy battles systems. I think the main reasoning behind the vast amounts of cliches in RPGs comes from why they are so popular in the first place. Characters that appear mysterious and have the odd "dark past" are usually okay in my books, because it gives the overall storyline a chance to delve into their personalities, and how they'd cope in an ordinary setting. I mean, if the characters were just "there", and had no bearing on the story or on any of the other characters then I'd get bored pretty fast. But, on a light note, if there was an audition to get a role in any RPG, I'd imagine you'd need some fancy form of elocution, a weird but acceptable hair-do, and a weapon or fighting style that would prove totally unpractical, if not then useless.[/color]

[quote name='Sage Kaley']It's odd but from early reports, I might swing Nintendo or 360's way. It depends on how they look after launch. If, after they are all out and into the market, I see tons of good games I want for PS3 and so many more on the horizon, then yes I'll look into that. If they are going towards 360 then I go towards 360. [/quote] [color=darkred]This is more or less how I feel towards the next-gen consoles. I don't plan on buying any of them until the games that I'm interested in are released for them, which is fine by me because it leaves more room for me to gather the cash I need. I mean, MGS4 alone is enough to make me want a PS3, just so as long as there will be something to play afterwards when I'm through and done with it. It's kind of the same scenario with the DS. I don't have one now, though I'd like one, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy one if I had the cash right now, but I'm not particularly bothered because I wouldn't really be occupied on it seeing as there aren't many games out right now. [/color]

[color=darkred]This thread is directed to those in the UK, and anyone else who'll be in the country whenever this event takes place. So I was wondering if anyone else was going to bother going, or has already been. Myself, I had my heart set on going a few weeks ago when I first heard about it, but after looking into it more I slowly withdrew from the idea (the closest venue to me is an hour away by coach, by the way, which is why I've got mixed feelings about going). I suspect the main reason why anyone would go to this would be for the playable demo of The Twilight Princess, and with the recently announced delay of the release date I'm guessing more and more people will want to go. Here's a link to the website: [url]www.game.net/allstars[/url] Nintendogs will be there, too. Apparently it will be making its way down in a fluffy, dog-like bus similar to the car in Dumb and Dumber. If anyone has been to any of the past events then please post your experience, I'd like to hear about it.[/color]

[color=darkred]I picked up Tales of Symphonia this morning for £40 from HMV, which was a little more than what I was initially prepared to pay for it, but after playing the game, I realised that it was worth it. The game is unlike any other RPG I've played before, as it successfully incorporates a truly amazing real-time battle system. So far, I'm about eight hours into the game, which is kind of the result of playing non-stop since I bought it, and I'm enjoying every minute of the game in all aspects. One thing that hits me, though, is how much of a cliche the game is. The characters bare similar personalities, if not then the same, to a lot of the typical Final Fantasy cast, and the storyline doesn't do it any favours either, but if you're willing to brush all that aside and just concentrate on the unique battle system, which is what Tales of Symphonia is renowned for, then you've got a great game. The most notable thing about the battle system is how it stands out in some aspects as the type you'd find in any decent adventure RPG, ie: real-time, such as any of the 3D Legend of Zelda games, except that they take place in a confined space. This, combined with the mechanics of a level-up system and EXP points gives Tales of Symphonia a less restricted gameplay overall. During battles, there's a huge diversion from the standard command list that you'd find in most other RPGs, as I found that all the work of controlling Lloyd (attacking and movements) was down to me. Personally, I loved the feeling I got from each character being completely dependent on themselves, especially Lloyd, because it gave me the chance to concentrate on what I was doing and how I handled it, while the others are left to their own devices. But, even though I feel as if "it's every man for themselves", there is always the burden of having to equip every character with the right weapons, armour, and accessories, which is like a staple for all RPGs. I don't want to be misunderstood here; I love customising things, especially when you have the choice to do so, otherwise I'd simply just select the optimum setting for each character, but where's the fun in that. The world map is of a typical nature, too. At first, I was concerned about how little into the distance you could see, until I found out that it was a deliberate ploy so as the Long-Range mode could be introduced, though I sometimes feel claustrophobic in the areas where I haven't enabled it, heh. One thing I'm [i]really[/i] happy about, though, is the way in which you encounter battles. Actually seeing the monsters on the world map and in dungeons helps a great deal, because for the times when I don't feel like battling, I'll just avoid them, and when I want to battle to level-up or gain Gald quickly, then I'll just engage them. It's quite the opposite of Final Fantasy, really, where you don't get a choice in the matter at all. I may have only just started, but there's still a ton of stuff for me to try out, like figuring out different U.Attack combos and multi-player battling. Also, does anyone else find the skits annoying? It's not that I don't like the idea, it's just that the characters take too long to say what they have to say, they move their mouth much more than they actually need to, there's no voice acting during them, and the sub-titles are too small to read. Plus they never talk about anything interesting, though the anime-esque humour is amusing.[/color]

[quote name='Killer7']I love how people say their is a lack of a library, especially the people who don't have it. Yes they do have alot of ports(THUG 2, Midnight Club 3) or original versions of already established series (Hot Shots Golf Open Tee, Metal Gear Acid) but these 4 games are waaayyyy better then any DS game, Advance wars Ds, Warioware, and Mario 64 DS being the only good games for the DS (all which are from already established series). Personally this looks like a case favortism towards the handheld you own. Honestly the PSP's launch library was ALOT better then the PS2's launch. The only thing the DS has over the PSP is those wierd Japanese surgery and lawyer games, which I do want to play.[/quote] [color=darkred]Well, my opinions on the PSP aren't derived from not owning one, as I'm aware of its capabilities and specifications just as well as I'm familiar with the DS's. While the PSP hasn't got a library of games that I'd be interested in, neither has the DS at this moment in time. The only game that I'd consider buying for the DS right now is Super Mario 64 DS, and a few others which don't come to mind right now, and I can live without them, which is why I didn't immediately rush in to buy a DS on the day it was released, even though I had the opportunity to do so. So, until the games that spark my interests hit the shelves, I'm relatively happy not owning a DS, or a PSP.[/color]